Heir to the Throne

A/N: First up! Please check my profile for a link to images of Meera and Caro! I have now started posting the few sketches (in colour) that I have done of the HTTT characters! Yay!

Just to clear things up everyone is full grown now. I will make everything clear in this chapter, think of the previous one as something of a prologue to what I call Act II of this fanfic. Simba is not really old enough to kick the bucket but he is old enough to retire and hand the throne over to Kopa.

What has happened between Chapter 8 and 9 will all be explained duly. Please enjoy this chapter.

Why the Sun Rose this Way.

It was so early in the morning that the birds hadn't even woken up yet. Perhaps I should call it night-time because it was still so dark that the elephants were just shady silhouettes against the horizon. The hyenas were snorting in their sleep, so it was hardly quiet but I revelled in the tranquillity of the moment. This would be my last night as an outcast, my last night before I truly took my place in the circle of life, I had let the pull of the world drag me away from my dreams, I had put aside my own ambition for the farce that was…love. I was stupid and blind, as if I was a newborn cub again. For the first time since I was a cub I felt the fire leap back into my chest, it remembered me still, it remembered that I was born to be Queen. Sometimes it felt that it was burning so strongly that it would consume me as well. That was when I had to stop and breathe. This was one of those times.

It had been many years since we had been left for dead in the aptly named Deadlands. King Simba had returned home from war to find his son, Kopa, in the claws of my mother, Zira. In a rage he called upon the highest form of punishment we lions know. Death. In order to prevent our bodies from joining the circle of life he took us out into the Deadlands, a hell of a place. It took seven moons to reach. When we arrived our paws were buried in the earth so we could not escape, we were left in the sun to die. King Simba sentenced not only my mother, but her offspring as well. We were just as evil in his eyes because her evil blood pulsed through our veins. Kovu was still a young cub. We were all cubs.

I can hardly remember how many days we spent under the burning gaze of a cruel sun. I thought I was going to die. One night, perhaps the night that would've been the end of me, I was visited by a glowing moonlight angel.

"Rafiki? Please tell me, are they still alive?"

"They are not easily beaten these ones. They live."

"What do we do?"

"Dig them out, get them water and food quickly."

"What about-Z-Zira?"

"I do not want blood on your paws, or on my own hands. We'll dig her out last."

It was then that I felt the rough touch of frenzied paws digging away the earth around my paws. I could hardly will my eyes open, or my brain to function enough to know who these paws belonged to, or even why they were there.

I was not even sure Vitani was alive, or Nuka, I was almost certain Kovu, being the young cub he was was dead. My mother…well, she could never die, she would always be there to haunt my shadows.

I was dragged out of the dirt, couldn't even lift myself.

"Rafiki, they're so weak."

"They will make it. Have faith in me, Prince." I felt my head being lifted by unnatural long clawless paws, opening my mouth. I couldn't even resist I was so weak. The paws poured something cold into my mouth, and I could remember no more from there. I may have passed out, or died, and somehow managed to wake up later.

I was shivering uncontrollably when I woke up, jolting me into awareness. The first thing I saw was Kopa, gleaming like a cloud before the moon. I wasn't quite sure he was really there, when I tried to lift my paw to touch him I couldn't move it, it was far too heavy.

"Rafiki, she's awake. She doesn't look well…" The wide-eyed gaze of the mandrill, Rafiki suddenly appeared before me. He heaped some kind of liquid substance into my mouth.

"Can you chew, Little Meera?" He asked, I could hardly nod to say yes.

He put a sliver of meat into my mouth, and moved away to reveal Kopa standing beside him. I tried to swallow it, but my throat burned and was tender.

"She again will rise, Kopa, it is her little brother who is in troubled waters."

Kovu?

Kopa must have noticed my attempt at vocalization. "Nuka," He supplied.

"We'll fix him." Kopa whispered. "Try and sleep."

I did eventually, albeit not voluntarily.

While I slept Kopa and Rafiki must have helped my siblings get better. When I woke up, it was only Nuka and I that could not stand properly. Nuka looked a lot worse than I did and my mother, who was still stuck in the sand, trembling, and unconscious.

"Meera, you're awake." Vitani smiled, she was sitting beside me. "Surprised you're the half-dead one, you're supposed to be the tough one in the family."

"I am." I remember croaking. "That's why it's taking longer to get my strength back, there's a lot more of it…"

Vitani smirked. "Then Nuka must be the strongest of all of us. He still hasn't woken up." She said, smiling a little wistfully.

"Is Kovu alright?" I asked, feeling annoyed at myself for being to weak to stand.

"He's fine. Not too energetic but getting there. In fact, he said his first word. "Rafiki." Odd. I can't say I'm glad our brother's first word was a monkey's…" Vitani drawled, looking bored but I could tell she was a little concerned.

"A mandrill." I corrected. She smirked at me and then looked away.

Her brow was creased as she stared in, what I could only guess, was Nuka's direction.

"He'll be fine, right?" I asked. "Seriously?"

"I hope so. Rafiki and Kopa are coming back tonight to check on everyone. They're leaving to go back to Pride Rock tomorrow since King Simba doesn't know that they're here."

"How can he not notice his son's absence for so long?"

"Rafiki told him they were going on some kind of Royal induction training."

"And Rafiki has that kind of influence?"

"Obviously, Meera, if they're here."

"Maybe I underestimated that monkey." I muttered, closing my eyes. Maybe I had, the chimp could be more useful to me now that I knew his power.

"He's a mandrill, Meera, not a monkey." Vitani snickered, rolling her eyes simultaneously and then flopping beside me, rather unceremoniously. "This is terrible." She sighed, and I did as well.

"I know, it's because he looks like a monkey not a mandrill…"

Vitani glared at me. "No, you rock-head you do realise that once Kopa leaves we're alone out here. We can't go back. To the Pridelands. Or the Outlands. We're dead in Simba's eyes. We have to stay here."

She looked a little watery about the eyes, and it was hard for me to look at her. "How will we survive? I don't see much water, or even trees around here. There's nothing to eat…" I was silent, what was I supposed to say.

"Don't worry." I managed eventually. "We'll find a way."

That night, Kopa and Rafiki came back, they had somehow acquired a hare for us to eat. I was walking, albeit tentatively, and Nuka was looking a little less feverish though I wasn't sure if that was a good sign. Mother had been dug out, and doctored. I couldn't help eyeing, and neither could Kopa, her sleeping form with caution.

For the first time Kopa and I sat together, looking at the shadowy Deadlands from our place on the dusty hill. Vitani and Kovu were resting, while Rafiki tended Nuka and my mother. I noticed the mandrill cast a glance towards us and catching my eye he looked away.

Finally, I glanced at Kopa, who was staring at me. He was still a luminous creature, his coat was a little dirty but the paleness shone through. I frowned at him, and he smiled back.

"You're feeling better, I'm glad." He admitted, half-smiling at me.

"And you're here. I'm glad." I muttered.

"You're glad I'm here?" Kopa repeated, looking a little shocked.

"I'm glad you came back for us." I rephrased. "We probably would've died without you. Thank you for saving my siblings and I."

"So formal, Meera?" Kopa teased. I looked away.

"Are you upset you're not coming back to the Pridelands?" Kopa asked, a little too perceptively.

I shook my head. "I'll be back one day. To take the throne. A little absence makes the heart grow stronger."

"I thought the phrase was 'fonder.'" Kopa said softly.

I sneered at him. "Soft Pridelander version."

"It's better than hard-hearted Outlander sneers." He shot back. We grinned at each other.

"So you're leaving tomorrow?" I asked eventually.

"I have to."

"You have to? So you want to stay in this dump?"

"I don't want to leave you cubs alone out here. There's nothing. You should make your way out to the desert, find an oasis, or even leave this part of the earth altogether."

"You must be mad." I growled. "Why would I go any further than I already am from my home? The Pridelands are my home!"

"They're not anymore, Meera. My father will kill you if he ever sees you again. You must promise me you'll never come back into the Pridelands, ever."

On a whim I shot back. "Then you promise you'll always come visit here every full moon."

Kopa's face flickered rapidly between emotions, first surprise, confusion, a glimmer of a smirk and then Kopa looked pained. He finally said, "Fine. I'll find a way. But then, you promise, you won't ever come back? You mustn't come back, Meera."

I didn't know why I was compelled to agree. Maybe it was just gratitude that Kopa had saved me from death, and from grief that was even worth than that. Maybe it was the way the emotion in his eyes seemed to outshine his own moonlit fur. I don't why I agreed because it was tantamount to giving up the throne. Yes. I won't ever go back to Pride Rock. My flame flickered out, my heart was began to flicker and I said,

"Yes."

Somehow we had survived from there, eking out a living from the barest of earth, knowing the patterns of the migrating animals. We did it all alone, because very soon after Kopa and Rafiki left, my mother disappeared as well. I suspect she must have died because we never saw her again, who could survive seven moons of desert before finding food and water on top of that being as weak as they had all been after the trial of the sun.

I padded on through the territory until I found a pool of water. Even though it was dark the little light the morning stars provided made it easier to see my reflection on the water's still surface. I had grown from the cub I once was.

I still resembled my father, a fact I had grown to resent. My green eyes looked sharp and angry, the fur around them hinted of the severe giving me an impression of my mother when she was hunting. I had no desire to resemble my mother or my father, that pride had long died within me, and yet I did so much. My dark brown fur and green eyes were reminiscent of my father and my razor claws were my mother's. The scar she had left on my head all those years ago began to resemble the markings she had had on hers… I sneered at the water, going as far as to strike it with a clawed paw. "Stupid reflection." I growled softly.

"You mean 'stupid face'." I spun around to watch Nuka stalk towards me. He looked irritable. I flicked my tail to alert him to my displeasure at being disturbed. He didn't seem to care.

"What the hell are you thinking, Meera?" He snarled, and I was about to growl at him for insubordination. "Are you seriously thinking of going to war? It's ridiculous."

I surveyed him calmly, I couldn't even bottle the smirk that was growing on my face.

Nuka looked even more furious at my reaction. I could see him prepare to strike with cutting words. Cute, Nuka…

"What is Kopa going to think, when you charge in and destroy his kingdom? 'Don't I have great taste in lioness's?'" He delivered the final line with sarcasm as heavy as a hippo.

"What are you talking about, Nuka?" I rolled my eyes, cringing inwardly at his words. He was right but at the same time he didn't understand. I knew I was sacrificing our friendship but Kopa had sacrificed it first, he broke the promise. Of course, no one knew about that promise except for me. Nuka glared at me. The scrawny cub had grown into a scrawny if somewhat sarcastic (whiny) lion, with a scraggly black mane and Mother's piercing red eyes.

"You really don't care about that, Meera?" He asked, sitting down. "Remember your emotional constipating as a cub? Don't repeat the past." I wasn't sure whether to smirk at that or get angry. Stupid Nuka, he knows nothing.

"I don't care, dear Nuka, because Kopa doesn't. Didn't you hear, he's getting married?"

"Perhaps you forgot to mention that part?"

"Perhaps." I snorted. "Full moon. That's when the wedding is."

"Ah, now it makes sense. Ah, it really is something you would do. That's so Meera, pretending to go to war. You're going to crash the wedding."

"Ye-wait what? How is that like me at all?" Nuka had a habit of misconstruing everything I did. Since he was a cub, he's had this warped tendency…

"Not a bad idea. We could kidnap Kopa, and you could run away together."

"I hope you're joking, Nuka."

"I am." He sobered up quickly, fixing his angry face on again. "I'm asking you as a brother, don't go to war today. It's just not a good idea at all. You'll probably get hurt."

"Why did you let me start an army if it was a bad idea?"

"The army has pretty much kept us alive these seasons. The hyenas hunt, the elephants protect us and bring water, Caro has been your little messenger to Kopa. We've been happy. Why would I say no to that?"

"So you were just ignoring the fact that the army performs morning drills, and regularly practises fighting, and oh the other little detail of the raids we regularly do on the surrounding prides?" Nuka could be so dense. Why on earth would I keep an army trained and fed just to cater to his superficial needs? I had been planning this day as a contingency in the event that Kopa broke his promise. I knew it would happen like this. I knew I couldn't trust him…

I whipped my tail back and forth irritably, it was involuntary. Nuka was irritating me far too much. His own stance had become a little aggressive. I smirked, little Nuka trying to take me on?

"Just know this, Meera. I'm not going with you on this suicide mission. You know that we are just a bunch of undisciplined hyenas compared to Simba's pride. They're supposed to be invincible." Nuka looked genuinely concerned.

"Invincible, maybe, if they were fighting mere lions. Bull Elephants? I'm not so sure." I laughed a little. I had ten elephants, all mighty and strong. Simba had about seven full grown lionesses when I was there last, not including his mate and his mother. The number may have grown but it was no match to the ten elephants, three lions and twenty hyenas I was packing. No matter how invincible they were…

"Adorable, Nuka, just adorable." I smiled. "You're concerned for me. But you don't need to. I'll be fine."

"I'm not concerned about you at all." He looked away snarling. "But I am for Kovu, I'll come with. To look after him at the very least."

"You do that." I growled, finally fed up. Nuka had interrupted my thinking and I had to get out of that space. I stalked out of his space, and he snarled after me. I didn't even glance back. He thinks just because he's grown a bit of a mane he can boss me around…please…

The sky was starting to lighten now and I watched the army slowly start to rise. Caro was sleeping in one of the few trees we had in the Deadlands. I climbed up into the branches to sneak up behind him. He was snoring slightly, his feathery body fluttering at my breath when I drew nearer.

"Good morning, Caro." I growled loudly. The bird flinched into consciousness. "Mistress?" He squawked in shock. "G-good morning to you too!"

"Today is the day of reckoning for dear Simba and his offspring. I hope you're prepared to fly with the troops to victory." I smirked at him, smiling as he flapped his great wings enthusiastically.

"Of course, Mistress." Caro bowed quickly. "Shall I wake the troops and prepare them to march?"

"Very good, Caro. And while you're at it, tell Vitani to meet me here."

"Your wish is my command, Mistress." Caro launched himself from the tree into the sky. I watched him flap over the sleeping army, calling out to them to wake.

The elephants were already standing, as they didn't lie down to rest, they leaned against one another and as they stirred they let out fierce trumpets. The hyenas rose too, more from the elephants racket than Caro's shrieks.

Caro then flew off behind the Deadwall, where my siblings and I usually slept.

"We're invincible." I smiled.

Many seasons had gone by, shrubs had turned into trees, streams into rivers, hills into mountains, cubs into lions.

He cut a striking picture from his place on Pride Rock, Malika thought as she watched the crowds of animals bowing before the new King. His thick mane fluttered in the breeze, his proud carriage and smiling face did not detract from the power that emanated from him, from the power that he had flowing in his royal blood. He opened his mouth to roar, to finally become the King of Pride Rock. Malika had to look away to keep herself from getting emotional as his roar vibrated through the hearts of all the animals present, and within the lions that had gathered. The roar was soon joined by another, the old King stood beside his son, smiling as brightly as the sun above.

Malika smiled a little as she caught Kopa's eye. He winked at her. Her heart skipped a beat.

The old mandrill Rafiki held a burning branch in his hand. The animals recoiled from the bright fire even as Kopa's coat competed with the light it exuded. Rafiki put the flame out on the rock, and crumbled ash from the end of it. He then marked Kopa's head, and then Simba's. The two lions then moved together to rub heads, thus passing on the crown from father to son.

The animals cheered and it was official. Kopa was King.

A while later, Kopa and Malika lay together under a tree in the Pridelands. Malika had pulled Kopa down onto the ground, and flung her paws over his chest, smiling down at him. He had grown from a shy cub into a kind lion, somewhat distant sometimes, but she knew he loved her. They were betrothed after all.

"So how does it feel, love?" Malika crooned, her tail flicking languidly beside them. Kopa's lips quirked up.

"How does what feel?" He asked, rolling onto his side. Malika slipped off his chest to rest beside him. She rubbed her head into his mane.

"Being King finally." Malika answered. Her small face seemed to be glowing with happiness. Kopa felt a little bad looking at her, as the afternoon sun fell softly on her, making the ends of her fur burn gold. Her eyes looked softer than usual.

"A little lonely." He replied, looking out into the distance with a wistful smile.

Malika smiled. "Every King needs a Queen to be complete…it's only a little while until our marriage, Kopa. I'm sure it won't be too long for you to wait." She murmured, intensifying her affection to a lick on the cheek.

Kopa smiled softly. And continued to stare out at the horizon.

Well, I know nothing really happened in this update but certainly more will in the next. This was basically just to clear up what happened in the chapter Rise of the Queen. I hope everyone is up to date. As much as possible, since I know I mentioned the Pridelanders very little. But please, tell me what you honestly think of the story so far, how you want the story to progress, or which characters should end up together? I just hope I'm on the right track J

Anyway I'll try to update again soon, but this is my final year of school and it's that crucial time for getting into university so forgive me if updates return to their sporadic ways…